Perhaps I'm having an incredibly blonde week or something so forgive me if this sounds a little dim but, where exactly does the water go?

I've just read a report on the beeb site stating that Kent is going to be issued with compulsory water meters. Which makes sense when they explain we've had a dry winter etc etc. However, where exactly does the water go? Are we leaking it into space or something?

I was taught at school about the water cycle, and have recently had it repeated to me in toddler speak by Andrew. You know the one; rain comes down, we drink, it goes down the drains, along rivers, back up to sky. It's a cycle. At no point in that cycle does the water mysteriously disappear.

Big wet thing all around us, blue, ring a bell? Yes, ok, not fresh water, but still wet surely and plenty of it. And then there's the whole polar ice caps thing, melting into the big wet thing, increasing the big wet thing (although if ice melts in a glass of water does the glass of water overflow? think about it).

So where does the water go?